Share this article

HOW THIS IS MONEY CAN HELP

It was the first UK 50p coin to show both date and denomination on the obverse, according to the Royal Mint.

However, there was a mintage of 5.3million according to its website. That doesn't make it very rare, especially if you compare it to a 50p coin This is Money has written about in the past with the Kew Gardens pagoda stamped on it.

This had a far smaller mintage of 210,000 – and some on online market place eBay were actually selling for a few hundred pounds, not just listed.

Online minefield: There is a number of these 50p coins listed for four figures on eBay

In terms of these Benjamin Britten coins being listed for more than £6,000 – it must be sellers chancing their arm that someone will be gullible enough to believe it is worth that. I also found examples on Gumtree.

Don't forget, you can list an item on websites like that for as much as you want. But an asking price doesn't mean someone will pay that, it takes both a seller and a buyer to make a price.

Elsewhere, there is a 'silver proof' version, complete with Royal Mint box, which has had a bid of £310 - but only 1,000 of these were made, with an original purchase price of £90, suggesting these have been a good investment. But it is unlikely one of these will turn up in your change.

These are made with 925 sterling silver (or 92.5 per cent silver) whereas the standard 50p is made with 75 per cent copper and 25 per cent nickel. The 92.5 per cent silver one is also double the weight.

Four of the top five search results on Google when you type in Benjamin Britten return with: 50p, 50p eBay, 50p coin value and 50p mintage, suggesting there seems to be something of a myth around these coins.

If a collector is looking for one of these 50p coins in mint condition, independent blog Change Checker says they should not spend any more than £10 to acquire it.

We have reported on a number of 'rare' coins in the past, including a 2p coin with 'New Pence' written on it. If they have 1983 on the coin, they could be worth a mint.

Meanwhile, experts at Stanley Gibbons reported earlier in the year that the value of the top 200 rare British coins jumped 6.2 per cent in the last 12 months.

Every time one of these stories rolls round, we get lots of questions from readers hoping they've unwittingly struck it rich. Sadly, it doesn't tend to turn out that they have.

Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline?

Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual

We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook.

You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.